Death in Paradise star Ralf Little is set to appear in a new Channel 4 thriller, Hunting Alice Bell, alongside Amanda Abbington and Simon Pegg. The six-part drama, created by David Baddiel and Peter Bradshaw, is scheduled to premiere on Channel 4 in November.
Plot and Premise
The series centres on a former nurse who was both the lover and accomplice of a notorious anaesthetist serial killer. Now living in Britain under a new identity, her past begins to surface when a woman named Fran Da Silva is accused of being Alice Bell, and her family is threatened.
Channel 4's synopsis reveals: "Then she discovers she's not the only woman to suffer this fate. Fran and the other accused women band together to fight back and clear their names. But as they battle to prove their innocence, what if one of the group is lying - and is the real Alice Bell...?"
Cast and Creative Team
Ralf Little plays Graham Hunter, while Alex Roach leads the cast as Fran. Amanda Abbington appears as Julie, Emily Barber as Vanessa, Toni O'Rourke as Ros, Christina Bennington as Charlotte, and Simon Pegg as Dr Jason Nash.
Co-creator David Baddiel explained the inspiration: "The idea for Hunting Alice Bell was originally inspired by real cases of women in the UK becoming terrorised by the local population after suspicions start of them being various national hate figures, secretly living in the community." He added that the drama explores how destructive rumour-mongering is intensified by social media.
Production and Release
Rachel Gesua, Senior Executive Producer at Clapperboard Studios, called the show "a story for our times," while Polly Scates, Head of Acquisitions at Channel 4, expressed excitement about the collaboration with Clapperboard and Sphere Abacus. The series promises a psychological whodunnit with themes of misogyny, justice, and the effects of online mob mentality.
